Erm, you don't understand wifi do you. He was complaining about the myfi hotspots out there, there are only 3 real separate wifi channels you can use. Each myfi hotspot is a cellular to wifi personal router device polluting the room with dozens if not more of networks, which is not how wifi is supposed to work. He probably had a private wifi network, but it wouldn't matter, you can't protect wireless signals from massive interference. I'm just not sure how you think wireless signals work, once sent from the antenna a password/encryption isn't going to magically shield it from interfering/competing signals. The air is a shared medium, adding encryption/private does nothing to change that. An apple event with hundreds of people in a room is probably the most excessively overloaded situation you can get. Someone who's already loaded a webpage and perhaps doesn't really care if its a bit slow sending their tweets might be fine with that situation. Not so much if you are doing a demo.
anyways wifi connectivity is a fundamental function of the phone, in other words its not some obscure ability that might slip under the radar of testing. its not believable he had a unit that couldn't do wifi.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30684_3-20005447-265.html
"9:37 a.m.: Vincent has to move around to try and get a better signal. He's using a wireless keyboard that seems to be the main problem, in that this place is lit up like a Christmas tree with wireless signals. Unfortunately for Google, we're getting a sense of why television is called "a vast wasteland," as the Today Show moves between bizarre Nicholas Cage quotes and Octomom updates.
9:37 a.m.:
Google is asking attendees to turn off their cell phones, as the interference has ground this demonstration to a halt. Awkward. "
As you can see, it happened at google as well.
